Like a far off dream
by pikachu203
Summary: KH III speculative time period. Aqua awakens in Kingdom Hearts after loosing her memory and is greeted by Xemnas and Terra. She doesn't know who to trust, and the longer she wanders in Castle Oblivion, the more confused she becomes. Terra/Aqua eventually. Warning: some spoilers. COMPLETE.
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1 – The castle and my memories**

** Hi, everyone. I hope that you like this. It's not going to be a very long story, maybe four or five chapters in all.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Kingdom Hearts.**

She blinked her eyes open to see someone's shoes. She slowly asked, "Who?"

A gloved hand gently lifted her from the ground, though her vision was still to fuzzy to let her see who this person was, "Now then, dear Aqua, are you alright?"

She held her head for a moment with her free hand, "Aqua… Who's Aqua?"

Another voice, an angrier voice, hit her ears, "What have you done with her, Xemnas?"

The hand supporting her vanished and she fell to her knees and looked up. Her vision was finally clearing and she caught sight of two men glaring at one another, or rather the brown haired one was glaring and the silver haired one was calmly looking back at him. The brown haired one clenched his fists; something about the silver haired one had made him very angry. He practically growled, "What have you done to her?"

"If I remember correctly, little vessel," the brown haired one cringed at that term, "You were the one who sent her here in the first place. If there's anyone to blame for her condition, it's you."

The brown haired one growled a name, "Xemnas…"

Xemnas smirked, "Well, I'm sorry to leave you in the company of a hothead, Aqua, but I'm afraid I have to go. Business to do, organizations to run, everything a person like me should be doing."

His image vanished instantly like a ghost. The brown haired one walked over to her and helped her to her feet, holding her up and supporting her shaking form. She slowly said, "Aqua… Is that my name?"

Somehow the brown haired one looked like his heart was shattered when she said that, "Y-yes. It is your name."

"Who are you," she asked slowly.

"I'm Terra," he said calmly a dynamic change in his disposition since he was speaking to Xemnas; "I'm a friend."

Aqua slowly said, "Friend…?"

Terra nodded and for a moment his appearance faltered like static or like a glitch, "Listen to me, Aqua. I need to get you out of here while I still can."

She shook him off of her shoulder, she wasn't going to trust someone she didn't know, and not that she knew anyone, "No."

"What," he sounded almost shocked and his image faltered again and he reappeared closer to her, "What do you mean no? I'm here to help you."

She frowned and shook her head, "I'm staying here."

He sighed, "I really hate to do this to you…"

He reached out to grab her wrist and take her with him, but for some reason, something inside her made her smack him hard as a response and take a few steps back. She didn't know why, all she knew was that there was something wrong with the person who stood in front of her, "Don't… Don't you dare touch me."

He sighed, "Oh God… I'm sorry. It's _that_ memory isn't it?"

She had no idea what he meant when he said that, but she saw his appearance start to falter again and his voice started to fade so at the end of his statement he had to shout just for her to hear him, "Please, Aqua, just come with me, I want to help you. Please I-"

The last part of his final sentence was lost in static and he vanished as the first one did, leaving behind a single card on the floor.

She felt something was off with the two men she had just seen, especially that boy with the brown hair. Why did he make her want to run away when he reached for her? What made her hit him? She had no idea, every time she asked her mind for an answer, all she got was more confusion and pain and an endless aching in her heart.

She slowly stumbled over to the card on the floor, picking it up and holding it up to see the image on it. It had no label, but it had a picture of a world where there was a large floating white castle suspended over a mountain by chains. Something about it felt warm and familiar. Almost like a home.

She shook off her feelings once again and looked up at the door across the room. There was a tiny slot in the golden door big enough to fit something the size of a card in. She walked over to it, looked at the card, then at the opening and was about to put it in before a voice behind her stopped her, "I wouldn't do that if I were you."

She turned quickly to see a man wearing a black coat similar to Xemnas's coat standing where Terra had vanished, "You should at least know the rules of this place if you are to learn how to move on."

She frowned, "Um… Alright, fine. Where am I?"

"Castle Oblivion," the man replied, flicking his head a bit under his hood with a flamboyant attitude, "As I am the ruler of Castle Oblivion, I can tell you the rules of this place. For, you see, here to find is to loose and to loose is to find."

Well… She'd already lost everything and found those two quarrelling strangers. So she'd already gotten started on that. The man continued, "Everything in the castle is run by cards like the one you are holding."

Aqua glanced down at the card she'd self-dubbed 'Home', surprised to see that 'Home' was now written across the top of the card, where there had been no writing before. She looked up curiously, "So, what do these cards do for us?"

The man continued slowly, trying not to lose the confused girl's attention, "Cards control everything in this castle. You can gain a card for each memory you traverse. For example, that card you are holding will allow you to get to the first floor of this building that is built into your memories."

She smiled, nearly running across the room and hugging the man in the hood, "So, if I keep going in this castle I can get my memory back?"

He shook his head to her dismay, "You see, when you arrive in your memories, the people there will see you at the time they saw you when you were there. If you were a child they will see a younger version of you. If they saw you as you are now, then they will see you. You decide from there what to do. You can follow the course of the memory or break from it, but you will still receive a card at the end. Don't worry about the people in your 'memories'. They are simply fabrications of your own imagination so feel free to do what you wish with them. You can help them or shatter their little non-existent hearts. It's your decision. You may not come to the same final outcome if you chose to break from the truth however. After you have completed a section of your memory you may move onto the next floor, but the moment you leave the floor you are on, the majority of things you learn in that memory will be gone forever, though they will all give you hints that will help you with your final decision."

"My final decision," she asked slowly, more confused than ever.

"Yes. You must choose one of them. For your sake I hope you chose the right one," he vanished differently than the other two, disappearing into a portal of darkness rather than fading away like a ghost.

Aqua shook her head and slowly inserted her small card into the slot on the door. The door flashed with such blinding light that she was forced to close her eyes and turn away, it was as bright as being engulfed by the sun. When she opened them, she was in the body of a small girl, standing in the forecourt underneath the castle depicted in the card, and there was a man with black hair in a messy top-not wearing a white robe holding her hand, "Now, Aqua, I want you to be kind to your fellow apprentice. You may not understand me when I say this, but he saved you in more ways than one and lost someone very dear to him in that fire."

Aqua slowly spoke up, trying to imagine what she would say in a situation like that, "Do you mean… Do you mean the boy with brown hair?"

"Yes," Master Eraqus said calmly, "I do. I fear his mother perished in the fire he rescued you from."

Now Aqua was even more confused, _Alright, so maybe that guy Terra is my friend. But what does that make the silver haired one? I need to find out more._

She slowly said, "Master Eraqus… What's his name?"

She didn't know how she knew the man's name. It slipped as easily off her tongue as if she'd simply said father or teacher. Master Eraqus held her hand a little tighter, "His name is Terra."

_So this is him,_ she thought, trying not to trip on the stairs that were so much bigger now that she was so small and it was hard to keep up with Master Eraqus's strides now that she was so little. He led her through a large training hall and up the stairs to a room which was completely dark. It was so covered in shadow she could hardly see it's inhabitant.

He was there. Sitting in the darkest corner of the room, glaring at them with the same look he'd stared at Xemnas with, the glint in his dark blue eyes which were much wider in innocence and youth. In fact his impressively reflective eyes were really the only part of him that Aqua could see. They wouldn't have been so reflective if they hadn't been filled with tears. He slowly brought his head down to his knees, hiding from them in the shadows once again, "What do you want from me?"

Master Eraqus sighed, "Terra, I'm sorry about what happened," there was no reply but the young boys nearly silent tears, "The girl you rescued came to see you. She's going to be training with us from now on."

He looked up again and Master Eraqus turned on the light to reveal the poor boy curled up in the corner, looking like the most tragic sight anyone could ever see. To lose your mother so young was an awful thing. Aqua slowly made her way over to them, still a little wobbly on her undersized legs, "Hi, Terra."

He didn't reply, he just looked at her sadly, "Um… I'm really sorry about what happened. But hey, you saved me, so I have to thank you, right?"

He nodded slowly, "I guess… It's just… you don't understand. I feel like I lost everything."

She offered him a small smile and admitted the truth, "Well, I did lose everything, and you're helping me find it again, right?"

He nodded again, "Uh-huh."

She smiled and knelt down in front of him, "So, what do you say? Do you think we can be friends?"  
He offered her a weak smile in return, "Yeah, I think so."

The vision was getting blurry after that statement, like the whole scene was fading out of my mind. I tried to grasp onto the memories, anything, the man with the messy black hair who acted like a father, the beautiful castle on top of a mountain, or even Terra crying about his lost mother in the corner of the dark room, but it all faded away. And it was like it never happened at all.

A small gray card with a picture of a city in a garden appeared in her hand and she looked down at it curiously trying to recognize it, but there was no recognition in her mind. She sighed. One thing remained with her from her past experience, though the rest of it was gone. That boy, Terra, he was her friend.

She slowly blinked and found herself in another passage towards the next floor. And there they were again. The two of them, waiting for her. Terra looking sad, which was somehow familiar to her, and Xemnas who simply stared at her with golden eyes that seemed to pierce her soul.

She swallowed the lump in her throat and stepped forward. It was time to get some answers out of these two…

**End chapter 1**

** I hope you enjoyed it.**

** Feel free to leave a review, but please don't flame.**


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2 – Is he my friend or not?**

** Hello again, everybody. I'm almost back at school which means my stories are going to be updated about every two weeks or so, I'm sorry about that.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Kingdom Hearts**

Aqua slowly walked up in between Xemnas and Terra. She slowly looked at Terra, "Um… Terra, are you my friend?"

He smiled at her, trying to touch her shoulder again, but Aqua couldn't help but pull back when he did, "Yes, Aqua. I am."

Xemnas released a humorless laugh, "You really think that he would be your friend!"

Aqua turned around to look at Xemnas curiously and Terra slowly called his keyblade, protecting Aqua, "Don't touch her Xemnas."

Terra's form flashed in and out again and Xemnas smirked, "She deserves to learn the truth, Terra."

Terra's eyes widened for a moment, "What are you talking about? Aqua is my friend, I care about her and I wouldn't hurt her."

Xemnas chuckled darkly again, "Come on, Terra, you know that's a lie."

Terra frowned angrily, "What?"

"If you aren't willing to show the girl the truth, than I will," Xemnas threw one of his ethereal blades straight through Terra's chest.

Aqua shrieked, "Terra!"

He coughed hard, but no blood came out of his mouth or spread from his wounds. He stared up at Xemnas with hatred again before his body flashed and vanished. Aqua felt tears start in her eyes and Xemnas picked up the blade off the ground, retracting the red blade back into the handle of the weapon, "He doesn't deserve your tears."

Aqua fell to her knees, thinking that Terra was dead and started crying harder. Xemnas sighed and picked her up, "Calm down, Aqua. I'm here to show you the truth about him."

She frowned, "I… I won't go anywhere with you!"

Xemnas sighed and grabbed the wrist of her hand with the card in it, holding it up in front of her eyes for a moment, "Your answers are here, in Radiant Garden."

Aqua slowly said, "Radiant Garden?"

Xemnas nodded, "Indeed."

He walked away from her, vanishing into the shadows.

Aqua blinked hard, wiping away her tears. Xemnas just stabbed Terra… He was gone. He was the first person Aqua could remember and he was gone. She slowly looked up at the golden door at the end of this white passageway. There was a small place there with an indentation big enough to fit her card in. She slowly walked up to the door, scared to put the card into the door.

_I'm here to show you the truth about him_…

Aqua slowly pressed the card into the indent in the door and turned away as the bright light nearly blinded her again. When she tried to reopen them, she realized that she couldn't breathe. Her ability was being cut off by something strong that was squeezing her throat.

She opened her eyes slowly and saw what she dreaded to see. Terra, though his appearance was somewhat different then the norm, was holding her in the air by her neck and choking her.

She managed to choke out, "Terra… please… stop this… fight it!"

There was another flash of light and she felt the majority of that scene be torn away from her mind, but one image remained:

Terra, holding her in the air and choking her…

She blinked hard and sighed. Xemnas's voice reached her ears again, "You see, he may have been your friend, but your little friend fell into the darkness and tried to murder you."

Aqua shook her head, "Then, all he told me was a lie… Who do I trust, what can I trust?"

Xemnas frowned and reappeared in front of her, "Now, Aqua, you see you can't trust him, but you can trust me."

Xemnas gasped after a moment of staring at Aqua and vanished, a bronze key blade falling to the ground where he was standing.

Terra walked up to the blade and picked it up, unsummoning it as he walked up to Aqua, "What did he say to you?"

He slowly reached out to comfort the shivering girl but she screamed, "Get away from me!"

**End chapter 2**

** Alright then, I hope you enjoyed it.**

** Feel free to leave a review, but please don't flame.**


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3 – The real truth/Trust me**

** Well, this is probably going to be a longer chapter. Which is good, I guess.**

** I just looked back and noticed some errors in earlier chapters, I'm sorry, but I was very tired when I wrote them. And by that I mean that my friend and I stayed up until 2:30 getting the secret ending to Kingdom Hearts 3D (which was NOT worth our time in my opinion) and after that we spent the rest of our night writing our fan fiction called "Villains Anonymous".**

** Alright, along with that, I decided to add Terra's name to the character list. I was reluctant at first because Xemnas is a pretty major player in this short story too…**

** That being said, school is starting again after Hurricane Sandy, so once again, updates to everything/new stories and one-shots will be very far apart from one another**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Kingdom Hearts.**

Terra froze for a moment, shaking his head, and slowly hugged Aqua, "I'm so sorry. He showed you _that_ memory didn't he?"

Aqua was torn between smacking him and hugging him back, because she felt betrayed, but Terra was the only friend she ever had that she could remember.

Aqua cried openly, part of her scared of what the truth rally was about her "friend". Mostly, though, it was because he'd been stabbed by Xemnas and he was back alive with her now. Terra breathed softly and pushed her off of him, "Listen, Aqua, I made a mistake once and lost myself. I'm here to help you. You have to trust me."

She shook her head, "No."

He sighed, turning away, "Aqua, Xemnas wants to hurt you."

"Well so do you," she replied, venom dripping off of her words.

Terra slowly muttered, "What can I…" then he turned back to Aqua, "You didn't get a card, did you?"

She was curious for a second at the spontaneous change in the topic of conversation, but when she looked down at her hands to check if she'd received a new card, she saw that her hands were empty, "I… I didn't," she paused for a moment, "Listen, what do you want from me?"

Terra's form fluctuated again, and he vanished for a moment before reappearing in front of her. His voice sounded quieter this time, like he was in a video and someone had turned the volume down, "I want to help you," he held out a card in his left hand, careful not to get too close to her, "This is my memory. It should help you figure out the truth."

Aqua was tempted to take his hand, but she didn't. Her memory was holding her back. Terra's form flickered in and out and he said, "No, I'm out of time!"

She curiously asked, "Out of time?"

He frantically said, "I'll explain later, just take the card or you'll be trapped her forever!"

She quickly grabbed the card out of his hand as he vanished; not coming back this time.

She was alone in this place again, faced with the task of figuring out the truth and learning who to trust: Terra or Xemnas?

She slowly glanced down at the card Terra gave her. It showed a picture of a world that was on fire. On top of the card was the word: _Mother_ and on the bottom was the word: _Aqua._

Aqua frowned and walked up to the door, carefully putting the card into the slot. She knew now to turn away from the light and when she opened her eyes, she found out she was watching Terra's memory like it was a movie or a dream. She was like the camera, watching the people go through the motions of the memory, but she wasn't a part of it. It wasn't her memory, so she couldn't experience it.

She was being forced forward at a high speed, and in front of her was some kind of glider. Terra was on the back, though he looked like he was six or seven at most. The man he was hugging to stay on the vehicle was fully coated in a suit of armor though somehow, Aqua found him familiar.

Terra slowly asked, "Master, where are we going?"

The man in the front of the vehicle, or 'Master', replied, "We're going to see your mother, Terra."

Terra frowned, "But, why can't mommy come and see me?"

The Master sighed, "Terra, life isn't quite so simple."

They kept flying in silence; the little boy looked up and said, "Daddy, what's that flaming place?"

The Master gasped, "Dear God, no…"

Terra asked, "What's wrong?"

"The world," the Master said in awe, "Your world is burning."

Terra's bright blue eyes widened and they had a small tint of orange in them from the flames on the world, "Mom…"

The Master found a patch of land to land on near a town that was burning to rubble and a forest that was starting to be set aflame with embers infringing on the evergreens. The Master looked over the flaming town, before calling his keyblade and starting to douse the flames in front of him to create a path into the flaming town. He turned quickly to Terra and told him, "Stay here, I'll come back."

Terra stood awkwardly in the clearing, holding one of his arms in front of his face so that he wouldn't die from inhaling too much smoke. Part of Aqua wanted to run up to the little boy and put one of her long sleeves in front of his face; carrying poor little Terra to safety. She didn't though, she was held back from interfering with this scene, forced to be a bystander. It was _Terra's_ memory.

Terra stayed like that, trying not to suffocate or think about what might be happening to his mother. That's when he heard a high-pitched shriek from inside the forest. He stared out into the flaming forest for a moment and then the scream hit his ears again and a young innocent voice shouted, "Help me, please! Anyone!"

He stood for a moment, thinking about his master's request for a moment before running into the woods. He turned around, running in circles in the forest, searching for anyone alive and he shouted out in a hoarse voice, "Where are you?"

A flaming limb crashed in front of him, embers singeing his cheek. Terra quickly turned around and ran back the way he came, hoping to run into someone on his way back and he did… Literally.

Terra looked up and to his surprise he saw a young girl, maybe a year younger than him crying and coughing. He quickly moved his free hand in front of her face, blocking off the smoke from her air flow. She hoarsely said, "Please… Please Help me."

He looked at her nervously for a moment. She had disheveled blue hair and tiny spots on her skin where embers and small bursts of flame had hit her. Her clothes were burned and torn, and she was covered in dust and ash. Even so, it didn't take Aqua long to realize… She was looking at a younger version of herself.

Terra frowned and said softly, "Alright, it'll be fine. Get on my back."

The trembling traumatized girl nodded, and slowly complied with his request, burying her face into his back. He slowly put his arms under her legs and ran back out of the forest and burst through the burning undergrowth and out to the clearing where his master had left him.

He gently let Aqua down on the soft grass and she collapsed down on her knees, sobbing and coughing hard from swallowing so much smoke. Terra knelt down next to her, "Hey, we'll be alright. There's nothing but land around us, the fire can't spread here."

She whimpered softly and he continued to talk to her, trying to calm her nerves, "What's your name?"

She whispered, "Aqua…"

He hugged her softly, "Relax, okay, Aqua?"

The master ran into the clearing, surprised to see that Terra was not alone. He said, "Terra?"

Terra looked up, "This is Aqua. She's hurt. Master, can we take her with us?"

The Master sighed, looking down at Aqua, who was a complete mess still before saying, "Alright, Terra but we need to get out of here."

Terra looked up at his master with large innocent eyes, "Where's my mother?"

The scene faded and Aqua found herself in a final passage, where there was no door at the end of the hallway. Standing there, waiting for her as always were Terra and Xemnas. She slowly blinked her eyes open and both of them spoke at the same time, "So, Aqua, which one of us do you trust?"

Aqua slowly looked at both of them. Both had told her the truth, but now she realized that she knew a lot more about Terra than she did about Xemnas. Terra may have hurt her, but he saved her life and he was her friend, right? She knew nothing about Xemnas except that he tried to prove that Terra hated her. She slowly opened her eyes and said, "Terra."

"What," they both asked, Xemnas surprised and Terra happy.

"I choose Terra," she said softly.

Xemnas scowled, "You've made a terrible decision," and he vanished into oblivion once again.

Terra smiled so wide that Aqua thought he might be straining his cheek muscles. He ran over to her and lifted her up in the air in a giant hug, spinning her around and making her laugh hard, "Terra!"

He put her down once both of them were sufficiently dizzy, though he still held onto her tightly, "Thank goodness… You chose me…"

Aqua smiled, feeling slightly light headed from being spun around so much, "What?"

Terra sighed, "Xemnas… He wanted to kill you. He tried to make you hate me so that he could force you to trust him so he could trick you into your own death."

"Well," Aqua said, "You have a lot of explaining to do."

He smiled again, "Don't worry. I promise I will. You just need to wake up."

"What?"

**End chapter 3**

** Yeah, there'll be one more chapter; I'm just not sure when it'll be posted… I posted this chapter in class.**

** Feel free to leave a review, just don't flame.**


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4 – Wake up…**

** Here we go, it's almost done, this is the last chapter.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Kingdom Hearts**

Aqua slowly blinked her eyes open to see Terra kneeling next to her. His eyes were closed and it almost looked like he was praying. Aqua gently called out his name, still delirious from her dream.

Terra smiled the same way he had in her dream when she chose him, "You're okay…"

She smiled and slowly sat up, yawning. She was in a pure white bed in a room that felt somewhat familiar, "Where are we?"

"Destiny Islands," Terra replied, standing up and rubbing his knees which were probably killing him from kneeling down so long.

Aqua stretched out her arms, everything felt tight, like she'd been asleep for a long time, "What happened?"

Terra sighed, "Xehanort erased your memory so Naminé had to put you to sleep to fix you. Xemnas found a way to infiltrate your dream, so I had to help you get out… Otherwise you might have died."

Aqua smiled, slowly wobbling to her feet, "Thank you for rescuing me, Terra."

She crossed her arms and gave him a look like she was waiting for something. He asked, "What?"

Aqua said, "Well, Terra, you hugged me in my dream, but I haven't seen you in twelve years and I don't get a real hug."

Terra smirked and hugged her so tightly she squeaked, "Is that better?"

She slowly hugged him back just as tightly, "Yes."

Terra said, "Come on, everyone's waiting."

She stopped him by moving her arms up so they were locked around his neck, pulling him down to her level, "Wait."

He asked, "What is it?"

She moved one of her arms down and punched him hard in the chest, "That's for choking me."

Before he could complain she pressed her lips against his, forcing him to take a few stumbling steps back, "And that's for saving me."

He shook his head slowly and Aqua smirked and said, "Come on, everyone's waiting."

She left through the door, leaving a very confused Terra to wonder whether she loved him or hated him.

**The End**

** Wow, I'm glad I finished this today! I didn't realize I would be done today! I'm happy I am; now I can move onto my other stories.**

** Feel free to leave a review, but please don't flame.**


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